Honus Wagner
| Honus Wagner | |
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| Shortstop | |
| Born: February 24, 1874 Chartiers , United States 
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| Died on: December 6, 1955 Carnegie , United States
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| Suggested: Right | Threw: Right |
| Debut in Major League Baseball | |
| July 19, 1897 with the Louisville Colonels | |
| Last MLB assignment | |
| With the Pittsburgh Pirates September 17, 1917 | |
| MLB statistics (until end of career) |
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| Batting average | , 329 |
| Hits | 3.415 |
| RBI | 1.732 |
| Teams | |
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As a player
As a trainer
As a manager
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| Awards | |
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| member of | |
 Baseball Hall of Fame
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| Recorded | 1936 |
| Quota | 95.13% |
Johannes Peter "Honus" Wagner (born February 24, 1874 in Chartiers , Pennsylvania , † December 6, 1955 in Carnegie , Pennsylvania) was an American baseball player on the position of the short stop . He also worked as a manager . As a descendant of German emigrants and because of his extraordinary speed, he was nicknamed "The Flying Dutchman" (actually the flying Dutchman , but Dutchman was used as a term for both Dutch and Germans).
He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the National League of Major League Baseball (MLB) for most of his active career from 1897 to 1917 . Wagner was one of the first five players to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936 , ahead of baseball legend Babe Ruth , and was only surpassed in votes by Ty Cobb . He is considered the best shortstop to date by most baseball experts, and although Ty Cobb is considered the best player of the so-called deadball era , quite a few contemporaries believed that Wagner was the player with the overall better skill. Cobb himself called Wagner "perhaps the greatest player who ever stood on a baseball field."
Family and childhood
Honus Wagner was born on February 24, 1874, the son of German immigrants Peter and Katheryn Wagner in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Chartiers, which is now a district of Carnegie in Allegheny County . He had eight siblings, four of whom died in childhood. His parents called him Hans , Honus is a modification of the German name. During his career, Hans was also one of his nicknames. At the age of twelve, Wagner left school to work in the coal mines like his father and brothers . He and his brothers played baseball on unpaved clay courts in their spare time. All of them developed extraordinary skills, so that eventually four of the brothers became professional baseball players. Like his older brother Albert "Butts" Wagner, Wagner learned the trade of barber before he became successful in baseball. Honus' older brother, who himself played in the Major League for a year in 1898, is said to have been the one who brought Honus to his first talent sighting.
Honus Wagner married Bessie Baine Smith in 1916, with whom he had three daughters: Elva Katrina (born 1918), Betty Baine (born 1919) and Virginia Mae (born 1922).
Career as a player
Honus Wagner began his playing career in 1897 with the Louisville Colonels . It is reported that he was discovered by Ed Barrow when he saw Honus throw stones over a stream. Barrow signed Honus and had him play for the minor league team from Paterson, New Jersey . For a short time he appeared in Steubenville, Ohio before he was sent to Louisville. There Wagner was one of the good batsmen from the start and in his first year he managed a batting average of .338 in 61 games. Although in his second year in 1898 with .299 he just missed the 300 mark in the batting average, he was already one of the best in the National League . The number of teams in the NL was reduced from twelve to eight in 1899 and the Louisville Colonels were one of the excluded teams. So it came about that the outstanding players like pitcher Deacon Phillippe and Rube Waddell , catcher Chief Zimmer , infielder Tommy Leach and the outfielder Fred Clarke and Dummy Hoy, together with Honus Wagner under the owner Barney Dreyfuss, moved to the Pirates in Pittsburgh . Here in his hometown Wagner played until the end of his career, a total of 21 seasons.
Wagner was able to win the title of best batsman for the first time in 1900; he also led the league in doubles (45), triples (22) and slugging with .583, all of which were personal bests for himself. At the beginning of his career he was used in all field positions in order to be in the line-up with his good performance in any case, in 1901 finally as a shortstop. When he represented the regular shortstop Bones Ely for the first time, he made three mistakes in a single inning . Nevertheless, he was ultimately recognized as the best shortstop of his time, although he played more than 300 games as an outfielder and more than 200 games at first and third base on every field position except that of the catcher , he was even used as a pitcher twice.
A total of eight more titles as Best Batter in the National League followed. Only Ty Cobb with eleven and Tony Gwynn with eight titles were similarly successful. In many other statistics categories he was also able to achieve the top position several times, six times in slugging percentage, four times in on-base percentage, six times in total bases , seven times in doubles , three times in triples and five times each in RBI and stolen bases . He was, despite his bowlegged an excellent baserunner , although a contemporary sports reporter described his running style again as "the dance of a rearing elephant-like". The overall statistics show a beating average of .327 for Honus Wagner's career, he hit 640 doubles, 101 home runs and a Major League record a total of 3415 hits. This record was only broken by Cobb in the 1920s, and the National League record lasted until 1961 when it was broken by Stan Musial . After Cap Anson, Wagner was only the second player since the beginning of the Major Leagues in 1876 to reach more than 3,000 hits. The fact that he hit 101 home runs in his career is considered an extremely good result for a player of the Deadball era, as only a few home runs were generally hit at that time.
Even after his resignation in 1917, Honus Wagner was considered one of the best all-round players of all time. The well-known baseball statistician Bill James rates him as the second best player of all time, just after Babe Ruth , while statisticians John Thorn and Pete Palmer put him ninth on their all-time best list. Many of the great baseball players and managers who competed against him, including Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby and Walter Johnson , put Wagner on shortstop on their teams of the best players of all time.
World Series Games
The first World Series , the game between the winners of the American and National League , took place in 1903 between the Boston Americans (later Boston Red Sox) and the Pirates. Pittsburgh was seen as a favorite, after all, the American League had only existed for three years and was rated as less strong. At that time, Wagner was already a star and he was all the more relied on when pitchers from the starting rotation were injured. Wagner himself was ailing and only averaged .222 in the series. In addition, there were some fans of the Red Sox, the so-called "Royal Rooters", who were decried as particularly rowdy. They sang the words “Honus, Honus, why do you hit so badly?” With every “At-Bat” by Wagner to the tune of the then popular hit “Tessie”. In the end they lost Pirates the best-of-nine series with five to three against a team that included pitchers Cy Young and Bill Dinneen and third-baseman manager Jimmy Collins . Christy Mathewson wrote in his book “Pitching in a Pinch”: “For some time after 'Hans' Wagner's poor showing in the world's series of 1903 ... it was reported that he was yellow (poor in the clutch). This grieved the Dutchman deeply, for I don't know a ball player in either league who would assay less quit to the ton than Wagner ... This was the real tragedy in Wagner's career. Notwithstanding his stolid appearance, he is a sensitive player, and this has hurt him more than anything else in his life ever has. (For a while after the poor performance at the 1903 World Series…… it was reported that he was yellow (plays poorly under pressure). That hit the Dutchman hard because I don't know a player in any of the leagues who would fail less under pressure as Wagner ... That was tragic for Wagner's career. In contrast to his crude appearance, he was a sensitive person and this affected him more than anything else in his career. "
In 1909 Wagner and the Pirates had the opportunity to prove that they were not "yellow". The Pirates had to face Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers and it would be the only time the dominating batsmen of their time met. Wagner was already 35 and Cobb just 22. This time Wagner didn't let himself be outdone and he trumped Cobb on strike with .333 against .231, and with six stolen bases he set a new record for the finals. The lightning-fast Cobb only got two steals and, according to Cobbs, one of them was a wrong decision. Wagner recalled: “We made him out at the second [base]. Then there was a babble with the umpire Silk O'Loughlin, who called 'no end'. We discussed for about a minute and didn't give in when Cobb turned to the umpire. He said to O'Loughlin, an American League umpire, 'I'm sure I was' out', they had one ankle on me. You just blown that decision off, so let's move on. “ There is also a story circulating from Lawrence Ritter's book“ The Glory of Their Times ”, according to which Cobb bragged to Wagner that he would steal second and that Wagner had put a particularly rude “ tag ” on Cobb's mouth in the following action , so that the both of them snapped at each other. However, it is doubted whether this incident really happened that way. The Pirates eventually won the World Series by four to three wins.
After the career
For a short time Wagner acted as manager for the Pirates, but gave up this post after five games. Instead, he took over the work as a hitting trainer , which he held from 1933 to 1952. The later members of the Hall of Fame Arky Vaughan , Kiki Cuyler , Ralph Kiner and especially Pie Traynor , who was a player- coach from 1934 to 1939, were shaped by him. During this time he initially wore the number 14, but later switched to the 33, which became famous as his and which was later banned in his honor. During his time as a player, shirt numbers were still unknown in baseball. He was also a welcome guest as a coach anytime and anywhere in the stadiums and he was valued as one of the great exponents of baseball.
In 1928 Wagner stood in the elections for sheriff in Allegheny County, but could not prevail. In 1942 he was appointed Deputy Sheriff. He also ran a well-known sports shop. There is still a sports outfitter in downtown Pittsburgh called "Honus Wagner".
Wagner spent his twilight years in Pittsburgh, where he was known as a distinguished personality. He died on December 6, 1955 at the age of 81 and was buried in the Jefferson Memorial Cemetery in the South Hills borough of Pittsburgh .
Honors
- In the first election for the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936, Wagner received as many votes as Babe Ruth , only Ty Cobb had more than these two, and he is one of the top five in the Hall of Honor alongside the two and together with Walter Johnson and Christy Mathewson Recorded.
- For the hundredth birthday of professional baseball in 1969, an election of the greatest players of all time was carried out, Wagner was the shortstop of this all time greatest .
- When The Sporting News magazine published a list of the 100 greatest baseball players of all time in 1999, it put Honus Wagner in thirteen and thus the best-placed shortstop - 82 years after his last game and 44 years after his death.
- After fans voted Cal Ripken Jr. and Ernie Banks as shortstops in the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999, Wagner was named the third shortstop by the Supervisory Committee of Choice.
- William J. Hartz wrote a march entitled "Husky Hans", which he titled "Dedicated with respect to three-time National League batting champion Honus Wagner" .
- A life-size bronze statue of Wagner on a marble plinth was placed in front of Forbes Field , designed by Frank Vittor. It shows him swinging a baseball bat , admired by children, who are depicted in relief on the marble. Wagner, who was already frail at the time, was able to personally attend the unveiling ceremony on April 30, 1955, and wave to his many fans. In 2000, the sculpture was first placed in front of the entrance of the Three Rivers Stadium , today the statue is in front of the main entrance to PNC Park , very close to the former location of the Pirates, the Exposition Park, and thus closes the circle of Wagner's life.
- The Carlynton High School ballpark in Carnegie, Pennsylvania is named after Honus Wagner.
- In the "Legends of Baseball" stamp series of the American Post , twenty baseball players were honored on the occasion of the election to the "MLB All Century team" . Honus Wagner appears on the 33 cent stamp.
- Ogden Nash wrote a little poem about Wagner for Sport magazine .
W is for Wagner,
The bowlegged beauty;
Short was closed to all traffic
With Honus on duty.
“W stands for Wagner,
the bow-legged beauty;
At shortstop, the end of every ball came
when Honus was on the job. "
Popular culture
- Dan Gutman wrote and published a book for young people in 1997 called "Honus and Me" . It tells the story of a boy who collects baseball cards and meets Honus Wagner himself through magical powers in the famous T-206 Wagner baseball card. Based on the book, a television film was made in 2004 , The Winning Season , with Matthew Modine in the lead role. In the German dubbing of the film, Wagner is incorrectly referred to as a Dutchman.
- In 1919 Wagner himself appeared in front of the camera in a film called Spring Fever . With him played two members of the Three Stooges , Moe and Shemp Howard, and Harold Lloyd .
- On the television series Prison Break , David "Tweener" Apolskis confesses to series hero Michael Scofield that he was jailed for stealing a Honus Wagner baseball card.
T206 baseball card
The T206 - Honus Wagner baseball card has long been the most famous baseball card in existence . It is known as the " Holy Grail " or " Mona Lisa " of baseball cards, and a copy of it was the first card ever to pay more than a million US dollars. It is believed that only fifty to sixty of these cards exist.
One possible reason for the rarity of this card is believed to be that Wagner, a non-smoker, requested that production of the card cease as a means of promoting tobacco products. However, this contradicts the fact that Wagner can be seen in a scene with tobacco utensils by Recius shortly before the turn of the century. Another assumption is that Wagner did not receive any compensation for the use of his picture and therefore withdrew permission for further distribution. In the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown , Wagner is portrayed as a smoker who wanted to prevent children from having to buy tobacco products in order to get this card. That is why he is said to have demanded that production be stopped.
The best-known of the few cards still in existence, which was also the first to cost over a million US dollars, was sold at auction on February 26, 2007 for 2.35 million US dollars to an unknown bidder in Orange County, California . This card is classified as “near-mint” to “mint PSA graded 8” and with the serial number 00000001 it was the first card to be assessed by PSA . In September 2007, the card was auctioned again at a record price, this time for $ 2.8 million to a private owner.
This particular card is the best preserved compared to the other T206 cards in circulation, as it has long been protected in a plexiglass sleeve . As the baseball card par excellence, it has changed hands several times over the past ten years, and has achieved three times the price it had when it was sold before. The owners of the card included ice hockey star Wayne Gretzky , owner of the Los Angeles Kings , Bruce McNall and then supermarket chain Wal-Mart . Wal-Mart wanted to give away the card as a grand prize in a baseball card promotion, but the winner could not afford the associated taxes, so the card fell to a Chicago businessman and collector who bought it at auction for $ 640,000. Already in mid-2000 it was sold for 1.26 million US dollars to a businessman in Las Vegas , who exhibited it publicly at baseball games and in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library , before it found a buyer again in early 2007 for double the price .
In 2007, the New York Daily News journalist Michael O'Keefe published a book about the map. In it he states that the edges of the card were once trimmed by a well-known dealer in order to increase their value. Four of the Wagner cards are currently known, the condition of which is assessed by experts as very good to excellent. Scott D. Ireland from Vermont owns the best preserved specimen of the maps in the presumably unchanged original condition.
Quotes about Honus Wagner
- Babe Ruth, when asked about the formation of his best team of all time, said: “There is only one candidate on Shortstop, the immortal Honus Wagner. It towers above all others in this position. Guys like Marion, Bancroft, Peck and Billy Jurges were all excellent defensive players. But Honus could do more than defend better than she. He was perhaps the greatest right-handed hitter of all time. He had remarkably long arms, hands like toilet seats, and he just pulled the ball towards him. Ed Barrow once told me that he would have done just as well in any other position, but he built his reputation as a shortstop. He led the National League seven times in batting and was still top when he was in his forties. "
- “When I was a boy in Kansas, a friend and I went fishing and we sat in the warm afternoon sun and talked about what we wanted to be when we grew up. I told him I wanted to be a major league baseball player, a real professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said he would like to be President of the United States. None of us got our wish. ”- Dwight D. Eisenhower .
See also
literature
- Dennis DeValeria, Jeanne Burke DeValeria: Honus Wagner. A biography. Holt, New York 1995.
- Arthur D. Hittner: Honus Wagner. The Life of Baseball's "Flying Dutchman". McFarland, Jefferson, NC 1996 and 2003 (Paperback).
- Dan Gutman : Honus & Me. 1997.
Web links
- Player information and statistics from MLB or ESPN or baseball reference or fangraphs or baseball reference (minor league) (English)
- Website about Honus Wagner (English)
- Honus Wagner in the Baseball Hall of Fame (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ , Ty Cobb and Al Stump My Life in Baseball: The True Record . Doubleday, 1961, p. 123.
- ↑ Honus Wagner in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In: baseballhall.org. National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, accessed May 9, 2020 .
- ↑ Quotes about Wagner in the baseball almanac
- ↑ Bill James: The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract . Villard, 1988, p. 448.
- ↑ , John Thorn, Pete Palmer, et al. Total Baseball: Sixth Edition . Total Sports, 1999, p. 2403.
- ↑ Bill James: The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract . Villard, 1988, p. 157.
- ↑ Christy Mathewson: Pitching In a Pinch . Putnam, 1912, p. 36.
- ^ Image of the cover sheet of Husky Hans by William J. Hartz
- ↑ The Poem in the Baseball Almanac
- ^ IMD Movie Database
- ↑ [? PSA 8 T206 Wagner Sale] . Retrieved September 20, 2006.
- ↑ a b c d e Holy Honus! T206 Wagner Card Sold for $ 2.35 Million. In: sportscollectorsdaily.com. SportsCollectorsDaily.com, February 25, 2007, accessed May 9, 2020 .
- ↑ Honus Wagner baseball card nets $ 2.35M . Retrieved February 27, 2007.
- ^ Compensation Theory . Retrieved September 20, 2006.
- ↑ PSA 8 T206 Wagner New Sale Price . Archived from the original on December 14, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
- ↑ Sports Collector Daily, "T206 Honus Wagner Card Sold Again," September 6, 2007, retrieved September 12, 2007.
- ↑ The rarest baseball card
- ↑ Scott D Ireland Collection ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ , Babe Ruth and Bob Considine The Babe Ruth Story . Scholastic, 1948, p. 224.
- ↑ , Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns Baseball: An Illustrated History . Alfred A. Knopf, 1994, p. 49.
| personal data | |
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| SURNAME | Wagner, Honus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wagner, Johannes Peter (real name); The Flying Dutchman (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American baseball player and coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 24, 1874 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chartiers , Pennsylvania |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 6, 1955 |
| Place of death | Carnegie , Pennsylvania |